Process of donating a kidney doesn't have to be difficult

“My focus is on education, trying to get people to put their fear aside,” said Sarah Lathrop

Sarah Lathrop thinks it’s just simple lack of education.

“I think people don’t consider donating an organ because they don’t know the need. There are 5,400 people in Pennsylvania who need a kidney right now,” said the 37-year-old Grantham resident who has polycystic kidney disease and will need a kidney transplant.

Statistics on organ need are pretty eye-opening. Here’s a sampling from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

• A new person is added to the national waiting list for organs every 10 minutes.

• Each day, an average of 79 people receive organ transplants. However, an average of 18 people die each day waiting for transplants that can't take place because of the shortage of donated organs.

• Last year alone, organ donors made more than 28,000 transplants possible. Another one million people received cornea and other tissue transplants that helped them recover from trauma, bone damage, spinal injuries, burns, hearing impairment and vision loss.

Most people can be a donor

Just about anybody is a candidate to donate a kidney, according to Dr. Harold Yang, medical director of the transplant program at PinnacleHealth System in Harrisburg, where 70 to 80 kidney transplants are done annually.

Donors must be at least 18 and healthy, with no high blood pressure, diabetes or history of cancer, he said.

The process of donation begins with a comprehensive medical history to see if the candidate is a good one. The donor must speak with the living donor advocate to make sure of the reasons for the donation and awareness of risks.

Next, blood work and a physical exam must be done to measure the function of the kidney. The donor’s blood type and tissue type must be immunologically compatible, Yang said.

Donors spend two days in the hospital for recovery and can expect to be off work for three to four weeks, Yang said. During the surgery at PinnacleHealth, the transplant team works sequentially, first taking the kidney from the donor and finishing that surgery and then starting surgery on the recipient, Yang said.

Almost all the costs associated with donating a kidney are covered by the recipient’s insurance.

Sarah Lathrop confesses she is frustrated with people who won’t consider donation.

“My focus is on education, trying to get people to put their fear aside,” she said. “People say, ‘What will happen if something happens to my other kidney?’ People who donate go to the top of the waiting list if they need a kidney later. And, people don’t know it, but you can live with just 20 percent kidney function.”

For more information on organ donation in Pennsylvania, visit these sites:

Life Begins With You at www.donatelifepa.org, a collaboration among the Gift of Life Donor Program, the Center for Organ & Recovery Education and the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Transportation